Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to visit charity to help youth offenders

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will visit Only Connect’s head office in London on Tuesday morning.

During the visit, Prince William and Kate will spend time speaking to the staff and young people to learn how the organisation supports those at risk from offending and ex-offenders.

Only Connect, which is close to William’s heart, helps 10,000 young people every year and their efforts have been shown to reduce re-offending by nearly half.

During the engagement, which will be the couple’s third engagement together since the birth of their son, they will be shown how Only Connect works with other organisations to improve and expand.

The Duke and Duchess will then visit two sister projects at the head office, first Bounce Back, which works with prisons and secondly Handmade Alliance, which helps prisons learn skills such as textile making. William and Kate will then be treated to a dance performance before they leave.

The Duke has continually worked to help former offenders rebuild their lives after leaving prison, and as patron of the St Giles Trust, which aims to give support to those leaving prison, he visited their Camberwell offices earlier this month.

On Wednesday, the Duchess of Cambridge will attend Place2Be’s ‘Resilience and Emotional Strength in Schools’ forum at the offices of Clifford Chance in Canary Wharf.

Kate, who is patron of the charity, will listen and meet with the event’s speakers on the day. The Duchess announced in April that she would be working with Place2Be, which provides support to more than 65,000 children across the United Kingdom dealing with issues including bullying, domestic violence, neglect and trauma.

“The challenges facing children in today’s society can seem overwhelming,” Kate said in a letter after it was announced she would become patron. “Issues such as addiction, poverty, abuse and neglect, loss and illness of family members can have a long lasting and traumatic impact.”

The Duchess added that she had been “struck by the vital need for early intervention” to support children and young people, adding it was a “huge privilege” to be offered the chance to work with the charity.